Welcome to Liberalism in the Americas Digital Archive

This is a unique scholarly resource of materials to help the UK and international academic community to trace the rise, consolidation and development of liberal ideology and practice in Latin America during the long nineteenth century. This has been achieved through the digitisation of key texts that shaped liberal thought and practice in the region since the late eighteenth century. Archival materials have been carefully selected  such as political pamphlets, judicial records, and political ephemera  to provide researchers, educators and policy makers around the world with the tools to develop historical studies that will enhance our understanding of the liberal tradition in Latin America.

The digital library was developed by the Institute for the Study of the Americas (now the Institute of Latin American Studies), School of Advanced Study, University of London. The project was managed by Dr Deborah Toner with research assistance from Dr Sarah Backhouse and consultancy advice from Dr Matthew Alan Hill and the University of London Computer Centre, which specialises in digital preservation. The resources that appear in this digital library were made available by, and digitised in collaboration with, the British Library, using materials from its extensive archives.

The Institute of Latin American Studies would like to thank in particular those whose advice and expertise made the development of this resource possible, particularly those who participated in country-specific steering groups and those who participated in a series of scholarly events during the creation of the library, many of which can be viewed online here.

The digital library traces the development of liberal ideology and practice through key themes: church and state, economic development, political culture, women and gender, and race and ethnicity. The resources primarily focus on the cases of Argentina, Mexico, and Peru, c. 1780-1930.

We hope that you enjoy the benefits of using this digital archive and the insights it brings to this crucial period of political culture, national development, and intellectual exchange in Latin America.

We would like to thank our partners at the British Library, and Beth Cooper in particular, for their invaluable assistance in the identification, digitisation and processing of the images found in this repository.